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The title says it all. It’s the life history of Shirdi Sai Baba and his philosophies, servings. The film takes off in 1854 showing the young Sai Baba who is in meditation below the neem tree.Later episodes show how Sai left to Himalayas and how he gained enlightenment and learnt on religions and later returning to Shiridi. With his miracles, he solves the problems of Shirdi people and becomes the baba for the town. How did Bhatia, the Englishman Wales and others who don’t believe initially turn Sai Baba’s devotees? The movie ends with Baba entering the Samadhi leaving the earthly abode saving Thatya’s life.…

Performances

It’s not so easy to get into the skin of Sai Baba role and many would make comparisons with the actor Vijay Chander, who lived in Sai Baba and had proved to be a perfectionist. However, Nagarjuna has delivered an excellent performance not loosing his body language. He got into the skin of the character easily and he was at his best during the last 45 minutes. The makeup was apt and it is unimaginable for the audiences to think other than Nag as Baba in the current trend of actors.

Music by Keeravani is an asset for the film. The songs are all situations based and ‘Okkade Devudu, Saranu Saranu, Nee Padamula’ are shot well while the background score is uplifting and touching. Paruchuri Brothers dialogues are impressive. Cinematography by S. Gopal Reddy is visually rich, Screenplay is effective in the latter half and editing is crisp. Raghavendra direction is good. Production values are rich.

Analysis

Undoubtedly, Nagarjuna is the strength of Shirdi Sai. Nag’s performance in last 20 minutes is a real asset of the film and Sai devotees will be convinced. No other actors in the current generation could be as convincing as Nagarjuna. Director Raghavendra Rao focused on the life of Sai Baba and his philosophies of ‘Sab Ka Malik Ek,’ serving living beings equally, and the other miracles with his devotees. With his experiences, the director had beautifully shown the spiritual concepts with effective screenplay. However, he could have stayed away from the silly comedy involving Ali, Ananth, et al and could have imbibed few more Baba’s miracles. On the other hand, few logical glitches like portrait of Elizabeth during Sri Hari scenes could have been taken care of. The second half is more engaging the first and the emotional scenes will well-connect with the audiences.

Final Verdict

Nagarjuna delivers memorable performance as Sai Baba. Watch out Shirdi Sai for the miracles and life of Sai Baba but don’t draw comparisons with the classic Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Charitra.